Thursday, January 10, 2008

A is for....

*Bulletin:

For those readers who aren't a part of the insidious "knit blogging" community, it is a cult. Not a kool-ade drinkin' cult, but rather a yarn buyin, Clapotis knitting (3873 documented in Ravelry), Sock Wars havin, I-got-every-size-of -addis kinda cult. There are also a lot of "alongs." It has yet to be seen whether the interest of "gooder" blogging will be served by alonging, but I just happen to have an "a." And it just happens to be the right time for "a" in the "ABC Along." So every two weeks...you know, until I don't do it anymore which is my pattern in all things...I'll post a picture relating to a letter, and write a little post about it. Cute huh? Wanna take bets on how far a long I'll get before I derail?

And furthermore:

A is for Argyle.

Or should that be Arrrrgyle, the favorite sock pattern of pirates?

And who is this guy?

Why the duke of Argyle of course. And what does he have to do with this post? Absolutely nothing.

But here's the thing about argyle. Argyle is a pattern that can go on sweaters, as well as socks. And I'm a knitter, theoretically of sweaters, although I'm much better at starting them than finishing them. I live with a Man(imal) who wears sweaters. He mostly wears sweaters that he purchased for $1.50 at the thrift shop. Fashionable they are not, but they keep him warm. I don't really wear sweaters. I have one ubiquitous black cotton, zip-up which is getting little snag holes in it, and several black hoodies which degrade further and further every time I wear them (draw string, we don't need no stinkin' drawstring). Is it any wonder that I never finish any of the sweaters that I start for myself? It's the starting that's fun, but why bother with the finishing since I probably won't wear them anyway?

Manimal, being the observant fellow that he is has picked up on the fact that he doesn't have any hand knit sweaters and has been dropping subtle hints. Like giving me sad puppy dog eyes whenever I pull out the needles. And asking questions like "Oh, is that for me?"

So we have come to an understanding. I want to knit something argyle...no that's not true. I want to knit something "arrrgyle," and he wants a sweater. A match is made.

The only other barrier to casting on is my unofficial (because I'll never stick to it anyway)moratorium on "starting" things. I sat myself down and gave myself a good stern talking to, that went something like this: "Look here you little so and so, this starting new projects thing is getting out of hand. You are buying needles in sizes that you already own because those needles have projects on them, and you want to start something new. Not only is it silly to own three pairs of #8, 24" needles, but you are running out of space to store your unfinished objects! Just what are you going to do about this?"

So I compromised with myself. I can only start something new after I have completed two unfinished projects. Theoretically that way I will get ahead of the game at some point.

About Me

No one's more surprised than I that my pirate ship got beached in Lansing, but it's home now. It is my life's ambition to have more free time so that I can fill it up with more projects, more knowledge, more adventure and more art.